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OpenSolaris if you are not aware is allegedly the open-source version of the Solaris server operating system. Some of us have for years tried to convince ourselves that it is also a desktop operating system. It’s been difficult. However, things have changed and now it’s pretty much a done deal. A company called Fluendo a while ago ported their Linux DVD player to OpenSolaris and it’s available for 19.99 Euro’s.

The player of course supports the playback of commercial DVD’s. In addition to what is now a DVD capable player other applications exist to help round out the user desktop experience. For pdf files you can use the included evince application or download the current version of Adobe Reader from Adobe’s web site.

For graphical FTP the gftp program has been ported and is available from the OpenSolaris repository. A repository is a collection of software that is pre-packaged for ease of installation and basically tries to make it as easy as possible so anyone can add software without going through the things such as compiling the program from the actual source code which mystifies a lot of people.

For Office productivity Sun bought Star Office and then open-sourced it as Open Office which is doing well. It includes the usual Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database, and Presentation applications.

For web browsers you can use Firefox, Sea Monkey which is what the old all-in-one Netscape browser suite used to be and Thunderbird for E-mail. You can also choose to add Evolution if you need to attach to an Exchange server. I’ve never actually used Evolution so I have no idea how well it does or does not perform that function. There’s also a few text only based browsers such as lynx or elinks which you can use as well.

Flash 10.1 has been ported and works well. There are also a handful of IM applications you can choose from.

So all-in-all for a project that started off as an off-shoot of a primarily server based operating system we finally have something that resembles a basic desktop environment for the measly price of 19.99 Euro’s. Yea, everything but Fluendo is free. That’s a tough price to beat.

The Fluendo player is available as a 32-bit Solaris package. OpenSolaris still supports System 5 based package commands so installation is simple. pkgadd -d ./*.pkg and select the DVD Player and let it do it’s thing. I’m running on a 64-bit machine but even though the package is available as 32-bit only it plays just fine.

Here is a screen shot showing the integration with the Gnome Desktop.

There isn’t a whole lot under the preferences option but here’s a screenshot showing the resume function which Windows Media Player also supports as well.

If you look at the top of the player window you’ll see the option for subtitles.

Basically, it works and helps to round out a desktop environment for Solaris/OpenSolaris fans.

There is even an option to change your region with the usual limit of 5 changes allowed.

Free software and a commercial DVD Player. Not to shaby for what was a server operating system.

alan